Notes on Walking
Walking as thinking, walking as seeing — a few observations from the road.
I do some of my best thinking on foot.
There's something about the pace — slow enough to notice things, fast enough to feel momentum — that frees up a different kind of cognition. Problems that feel stuck at a desk have a way of loosening while you're moving.
What Walking Teaches
Walking through a city you don't know forces a particular kind of attention. You can't be on autopilot because everything is new. You have to read signs, orient yourself, make small decisions constantly.
This is exhausting at first. But it sharpens something.
A Few Rules I've Made
- Leave the headphones out sometimes.
- Take a wrong turn on purpose.
- Stop when something catches your eye — even if you don't know why yet.
The last one has given me the most interesting afternoons.
The philosopher Rousseau claimed he could only think when walking. I don't go that far, but I understand the feeling.